Questions re host switching following recent GoDaddy/SOPA flap

During the recent flap about GoDaddy supporting SOPA (and later reversing that position) I read a number of posts here and there about dropping GoDaddy and going with another hosting service. I’ve been using GoDaddy for the last couple of years and have had no problems with them. That said, for a little while I had been considering reorganizing my websites and domains and going with another host. This episode caused me to think about doing so sooner rather than later. My questions are…

1. Do you think it foolish to leave a host with which I’ve had no issues (until the SOPA story broke) with the hope of finding something better?

2. I’ve read some of the recent threads on hosts here at CSS-Tricks but none have really applied to my situation: I’m running 4-5 relative small, low-traffic personal/personal business sites/blogs and would like a reliable, accessible host (i.e. very little down time, telephone support, etc.) — are there any that you would recommend or not for such a set up?

3. Are there any things I should be considering when looking for a new host that I might not think about or overlook? Though I’m not a total newbie, I’ve spent more time designing and building websites than I’ve spent thinking about hosts and feel that I honestly don’t know much about them and would rather not get off on the wrong foot.

I’ve learned a lot on this forum and would welcome and respect your opinions on the above issues.

Personally, I’m ok with them, and I definitely don’t support SOPA, but if I would not do any business with any company that has some dubious sides, it would make hings very difficult for me. Maybe I’m just too lazy or not idealistic enough….just dont want to go through all that trouble when in essence, my sites work great at GoDaddy.

Well, I feel somewhat the same. The fact is, I opted to go with GoDaddy simply because a close friend recommended them to me when I was first starting out and I really didn’t have any ideas of my own as to what I should have been looking for in a host. The fact that they’ve been pretty reliable has meant that I’ve not given them much thought since then.

All the same, over the past few years I’ve been wondering if I might do better supporting a smaller outfit, maybe one more geared toward forward looking web practices and/or hosting sites of companies and individuals I admire/respect. And that’s where I am currently. The recent SOPA thing has just moved the issue to the front burner for me.

I switched my domain registration to Hover.com earlier this year and really like them. I was not hosting any of my own websites up until last week. I used the code NOSOPA at hostgator and got 50% off for 3 yrs.

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